Recent advancements and new perspectives in animal models for Neurocysticercosis immunopathogenesis

Abstract

Neurocysticercosis (NCC), one of the most common parasitic diseases of the central nervous system, is caused by Taenia solium. This parasite involves two hosts, intermediate hosts (pig and human) and a definitive host (human) and has various stages in its complex life cycle (eggs, oncosphere, cysticerci and adult tapeworm). Hence, developing an animal model for T. solium that mimics its natural course of infection is quite challenging. We have reviewed here the animal models frequently used to study immunopathogenesis of cysticercosis and also discussed their usefulness for NCC studies. We found that researchers have used mice, rats, guinea pigs, dogs, cats and pigs as models for this disease with varying degrees of success. Mice and rats models have been utilized extensively for immunopathogenesis studies due to their relative ease of handling and abundance of commercially available reagents to study these small animal models. These models have provided some very exciting results for in-depth understanding of the disease. Of late, the experimentally/naturally infected swine model is turning out to be the best animal model as the disease progression closely resembles human infection in pigs. However, handling large experimental animals has its own challenges and limitations.

Carotid Taenia solium Oncosphere Infection: A Novel Porcine Neurocysticercosis Model

“…Similar results have been obtained previously in initial experiments with oral infection with T. solium eggs in pigs. 16,18 Oral infection has the advantage of mimicking the wild-type infection route, 12 although to achieve CNS infection with oral infection, a high dose of eggs is necessary (usually 100,000 or more). This implies the need of a large number of Taenia specimens, which can be difficult to obtain.…”

“…An ideal animal model that closely resembles the parasite lifecycle is useful to study the pathophysiological processes that occur during cyst implantation into the CNS, the development of the immune response, and the identification of specific biomarkers for early stages of development. 12 In addition, an animal model with high rates of viable cyst infections in the CNS may allow the control of variables such as infection dose and cyst longevity, especially important in controlled studies for treatment regimens. [13][14][15] A variety of studies have been performed using pigs [16][17][18][19][20] and rodents [21][22][23][24] as NCC animal models, each with their own advantages and disadvantages.…”

Blood–brain barrier disruption and angiogenesis in a rat model for neurocysticercosis

“…Animal models, including rodents, pigs, and monkeys have been developed to study the pathology of NCC (Arora et al, ). Although rodent models are the most commonly used, none have been successful in infecting rodent brains with T. solium cysticerci (Alvarez, Mishra, Gundra, Mishra, & Teale, ; Matos‐Silva et al, ).…”

Effect of Albendazole Treatment in an Experimental Model of Neurocysticercosis-Induced Hydrocephalus

“…22 For this reason, many investigators have attempted to establish experimental models of the disease. 23 The use of albendazole for extraparenchymal NCC remained controversial for some time; however, it is currently well-accepted and recommended. 24 Nevertheless, the risk of exacerbation of symptoms, notably deterioration of hydrocephalus, should be always borne in mind when prescribing albendazole.…”